Davey D: Economy forces hip-hoppers to be more self-reliant
By Davey D for the Mercury News
http://www. mercurynews. com/ci_10889496?IADID=Search-www. mercurynews.
com-www. mercurynews. com
2008 may go down as the
year when hip-hop culture finally learned to grow up and stop depending on corporate interests whose
priorities are not really the well-being of the music and musicians.
This year, political and economic conditions converged to create a perfect storm, giving hip-hop no
option but to sink or swim. Sales of rap recordings, both offline and online, have been in steep decline. It's
not about piracy so much as people simply refusing to buy what's being pushed on them.
Sluggish sales have resulted in record-label executives being very selective about the acts they get
behind, and the few performers and groups they have decided to promote are being nickel-and-dimed at
every opportunity. Current contracts allow labels to take percentages from nearly every area in
which an artist can make money - merchandise, tours, books, video games, movies, endorsements, etc.
The rationale: It's not about simply selling albums anymore; it's about selling a brand and the
lifestyle associated with that brand. An artist is seen as big business, and the label regards itself as the
primary investor getting that business off the ground.
I think that argument is garbage. For the past 10 years, artists have been told they won't get signed unless
they've proven they can sell. So instead of handing in a tape to a major-label rep, an up-and-coming
artist actually has to start his own indy label and test his product. Nowadays, though, even getting lots of
exposure on traditional media outlets doesn't necessarily equate to album sales.
Smart artists such as 50 Cent, Diddy, Paris and Master P learned to
launch other businesses, ranging from moviemaking to selling vodka. Often, those ventures
proved more lucrative than albums, from which the label usually got an 80 to 95 percent cut.
In the past, labels made the case that their marketing savvy led to increased airplay, which resulted in
massive album sales. They often would dictate to artists what sort of records they should make.
Several years ago I had a heated discussion with a rep from a major label who was upset because I was playing
album cuts of my own choosing by his artists, as opposed to the single the label was pushing. When I told him my
listeners preferred these tracks, he replied that the label had spent thousands of dollars on market
research and understood my audience better than I did. He told me the label had a well-researched and
financed marketing plan, and expected me and my station to go along with it. When I refused, he spoke to my bosses
- who told me to go along with the label.
Today's contracts may make sense
http:
2008 may go down as the
year when hip-This year,
Slugg
The ratio
I think
Smart
In the past,
Sever
Today